FOOD AND RECIPES

EYES BIGGER THAN YOUR STOMACH?

Despite the fact that I can’t stand cooking, and quite frankly, I can’t cook and rarely cook, I do love eating. I have an extremely sweet tooth and if you are like me, then your eyes will be bigger than your stomach. I have 3 favourite sweet treats: Banofee Pie, Carrot Cake and Chocolate Brownies, when made by my mate Tom.

I have been a vegetarian for over 20 years and I’m really keen on spicy food. I grew up on Indian food and cornflakes and when I was at university nobody in my house could even spell the word ‘COOK’ so we lived on beer, diet coke and Mexican and Chinese takeaways. I lived with my brother for 5 years and for 4 of those years we didn’t even know how to turn on the oven. I lived on cucumber and toast and he lived at other people’s houses when it was dinner time. How outrageous!

According to many sensible people, learning how to cook is a useful skill and although I think cookery classes should be a compulsory subject at school, I would rather have root canal than do all that slicing, chopping, grating, whisking, boiling, baking and frying. Moreover, what about all that washing up!

I’m sorry, but there are so many other things I could be doing, not least, ‘chewing the fat’ with my mates in the pub, playing pool or watching paint dry. Some people were not born to cook, and I certainly fall into that category.

If I had more money and influence, I would employ George Clooney or David Beckham to do all my cooking and washing up. Ok, never say never, I may change my tune in the future and be tempted to take up a cookery class or learn a few of the basics, but it’s very, very, very unlikely. So, if anyone has the mobile number of George, then please do the right thing and pass it on. David is very much in love with Posh Spice, so really I don’t want to step on her toes.

OMG, what is it?

Last year, at the request of the Inglés Málaga community I did bake a Banana and Walnut Cake. And this is what my face looked like:

As you know, cooking anything more than toast, or toast and cheese, or toast and cucumber, or toast and butter, IS a huge challenge for me. So nobody will be surprised that my face looked like this after 3 hours in the kitchen, and my cake looked like that.

Janette bakes a cake!

If you want to read the recipe and see the whole disaster in pictures then click here:Banana Loaf Recipe

If you have time, the energy and the correct ingredients and cooking utensils I would recommend this recipe. However, if you don’t have time, the energy then I can recommend some wonderful bakeries in Málaga. Seriously, baking cakes and bread, let’s not ‘go bananas’, let’s go shopping!

VOCABULARY CHALLENGES

Vocabulary, vocabulary; it’s sooooooooooooooooooooooo frustrating; there are so many words, so many expressions, so many collocations, so many phrasal verbs. How am I supposed to remember them all?

The answer is: first, learn what you are interested in, or what will be useful to you. For example, I know a lot of Spanish words for fruit and vegetables but I don’t know a prawn from a lobster.

Why? Well, firstly, I’m a lazy learner and secondly because I don’t use this vocabulary. If you are going abroad, you will find it useful to be able to understand a restaurant menu, and if you are like me and like a cheeky drink at the end of the day, you will be lost without the vocabulary for your favourite pre dinner drink. Do you want it: ‘ straight up’ or maybe ‘on the rocks’ or maybe like James Bond ‘shaken not stirred’. Of course, it depends on what your cup of tea is.

If you are not like me and you enjoy cooking, then why not follow a recipe and cook a dish or two. One of the most memorable methods pf learning is by doing it. So, if you fancy making something then put your apron on and get cooking. Do you fancy?

All these idioms use vocabulary connected to FOOD, but do you know what they mean? Can you write sentences using them? If you are not sure about a word or phrase, why not ask the Inglés Málaga community to help you?

IDIOM

EXAMPLE

MEANING?

To have a bun in the oven

Jan won’t come to the bar because she has a bun in the oven.

The big cheese

I thought I was just going to interview the secretary, but they let me talk to the big cheese himself.

The bread and butter

Just explain the bread and butter of your report. You don’t have to go into details.

To bring home the bacon

My husband has had to bring home the bacon ever since I stopped working

To be as cool as a cucumber

I thought I was afraid of flying, but I was as cool as a cucumber during the flight.

To be not (my) cup of tea

Opera isn’t my cup of tea.

To be full of beans

The kids were full of beans after the circus.

To be nuts about (something or someone)

I’m nutsabout Brad Pit, he is gorgeous.

To be a piece of cake

The exam was a piece of cake.

VOCABULARY ACTIVITY TWO:ACTIONS IN A RESTAURANT

I worked as a waitress in a restaurant to earn some extra money. However, unfortunately for my purse and my self-esteem, I was fired after 3 weeks. I was given the boot because the big cheese said I didn’t have the skills to do two of the following actions. Which two do you think I my boss said I couldn’t do?

To seat customers

To pour water

To take orders

To serve food

To clear tables

To take the bill

To lay the table

VOCABULARY ACTIVITY THREE:What’s in the Kitchen?

Do you know all this vocabulary? Truth be told, I don’t. For example, what the hell is that under the sink? Anyway, I’ll start you off:

Cupboard or Kitchen Cabinet

Kitchen Roll

Dish drainer or Dish Drying Rack

……

……

READING CHALLENGES

READING ACTIVITY ONE: Breakfast Smoothie

Breakfast SmoothieHow to make a quick and healthy smoothie:

Yummy, yummy in my tummy!

Ingredients

Slice the banana into your blender or food processor and add the berries of your choice. Whizz until smooth. With the blades whirring, pour in juice or water to make the consistency you like. Toss a few extra fruits on top, drizzle with honey and serve.

Giving it a twist

Use melon or a slightly over-ripe mango instead of the banana. Or add a pot of low-fat natural yogurt to make an extra-creamy smoothie.

Heat the grill to high. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl with the chopped parsley, pepper and salt, if you want. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan, then fry the onion wedges over a high heat for about 4 mins until they start to brown around the edges. Throw in the tomatoes and olives and cook for 1-2 mins until the tomatoes begin to soften.

Turn the heat down to medium and pour in the eggs. Cook the eggs in the pan, stirring them as they begin to set, until half cooked, but still runny in places – about 2 mins. Scatter over the feta, then place the pan under the grill for 5-6 mins until omelette is puffed up and golden. Cut into wedges and serve straight from the pan.

Make it meaty For a non-vegetarian version why not ripple over slices of ham or bacon before scattering over the feta, then grill until crispy.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter and line a 20 x 30cm baking tin with baking paper. Put the butter, sugar and ground almonds into a food processor, then pulse until the mixture resembles very rough breadcrumbs. Spoon out half the mix into a bowl and set aside.

Add 140g flour into the mix in the processor and whizz until it just forms a dough. Tip into the tin and press down with the back of a spoon. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 10 mins.

To make the filling, put the remaining butter and the sugar and almond mix back into the processor, saving a few tbsp for the topping. Add the eggs, the 25g flour, cinnamon and baking powder and whizz to a soft batter. Spread over the base.

Top with the plum pieces and a little extra caster sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 20 mins, then sprinkle with the remaining crumble mix and flaked almonds. Cook for another 20 mins or until golden. Leave to cool in the tin before slicing.

Make it by hand

If you don’t have a food processor, rub the ingredients for Step 1 together with your fingers. Pop the bowl in the fridge for 10 mins if the butter turns greasy. For the rest of the recipe, use a pair of electric beaters, or a wooden spoon and a mixing bowl.

Improve your listening skills and your vocabulary by watching Celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, showing you how to make a cheap, delicious main dish: The perfect cheese omelette

If you enjoy cooking then why not check out Jamie Oliver’s book: Quick Summer Meals –10 Dinners in 10 Minutes or Less

These ten recipes can each be made in about ten minutes (or thereabouts depending on your speed). They use fresh summer produce, and take the usual heat of summer in mind. Cold soups, substantial salads, light meals, and no-cook ideas are all here with plenty of bright ripe tomatoes, cooling cucumbers, and prolific courgettes in the mix.

Channel 4, a British TV broadcaster, is looking for new contestants for the next season of: Come Dine with Me. Come Dine with Me is a popular reality TV show where contestants compete to win £1000. In order to win the prize money they have to cook a meal for 4 people and entertain three guests who are complete strangers.

You think you have got ‘what it takes’ and have decided to apply to be a contestant.

To apply, all you have to do is write a postcard to Channel 4 answering the following four questions:

What main course would you cook and why?

What type of a person would be a nightmare dinner guest?

How would you describe yourself?

Why you would make the perfect host?

If you need inspiration, why not check out the auditions for the South African version of Come Dine with Me.

BUSINESS ENGLISH PODCASTS

Cambridge English Vocabulary Profile

Subscribe to the Cambridge English Vocabulary Profile and improve your vocabulary for levels A1-C2 Click here

Cambridge Online Write and Improve Tool

Write & Improve is a free service for learners of English to practise their written English. Submit your written work and receive feedback in seconds, covering spelling, vocabulary, grammar and general style. If you use it, don´t forget to let me know what you think about it. Is it useful, or is it another online tool which isn´t worth your time and energy?
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I can't be bothered reading today!
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